Disappointing pickerel bite in College Creek

[J.A. Veil]

After learning where the pickerel are hanging out in two Severn tributaries over the past 6 weeks, I decided to explore some other tributaries in the same section of the river to see if the pickerel were reasonably abundant there too. Yesterday I reported about my outing in Weems Creek. I was pleased that between Aesiegel and me, we caught 10 pickerel in 3 hours just by trial and error.

This morning I decided to try College Creek. I launched at Jonas Green park to very low water levels (blame the full moon I guess) and glassy calm conditions. I spent nearly an hour jigging the nearby bridge debris that has produced some nice rockfish recently. Today I did not get a single bite. I tried jigging a BKD, a metal jigging spoon, and a huge live minnow on a jighead. With no wind and no current, I stayed mainly in one position unless I paddled slowly. I hung up several times -- there is concrete debris down there plus loads of other terminal tackle and broken off lines that snag jigged lures effectively.

After realizing that the rockfish were not biting, I paddled across to College Creek. Most of the shoreline through the Naval Academy is concrete or rip rap. I bypassed that section and began fishing wooded shorelines over most of the middle and upper sections of the Creek. These are areas where I have caught white perch in the summer. The water level was very low this morning, exposing mud flats and making some of the shallows unfishable.

After two hours of constant casting throughout the creek, I had not had a single bite. I was about ready to give in to the skunk when I cast into an un-fishy look spot with trash and less than 1-ft depth. To my surprise, a spunky little pickerel hit the minnow. After getting him to boatside and removing the hook, I measured the fish. It was by far the smallest pickerel I have ever caught -- 9.25". That proved to be the only fish I could find in all of College Creek. That was disappointing.

Before finishing for the day, I stopped off in another tributary that I know has held pickerel. I wanted to make sure that the weather or low water was not the only cause of the poor bite. Sure enough, the second tributary had a good bite. I hooked 5 pickerel in 30 minutes. That leads me to believe that College Creek does not hold many pickerel this year (or the past several years either). The first year the SRRKC held a winter pickerel derby, I routinely caught lots of pickerel in College Creek casting from the shore. After that banner year, the pickerel weren't there any more.

Before ending the trip, I drifted across the bridge debris again. The drift was a decent speed this time. However, I snagged a new metal jigging spoon almost immediately. It took 10 minutes of pulling and back-paddling to retrieve the lure -- that was enough.

The entire trip last 4.5 hours -- my longest trip in the kayak in a while. I had no butt fatigue today. The body part that got sore first was my heels -- I guess there is no padding in the boot section of my waders.

[Shady]

Glad you made it out again and avoided the skunk. However, this really puts a damper on my hopes of jigging up some rockfish in the Severn tomorrow... maybe I'll just stay home and build up some kitchen points...
Thanks for the report.

[jsquare]

Thanks for the report, good and bad. You avoided the skunk and couldn't have asked for a nicer January day. I guess the full moon wasn't a factor since it didn't seem to shut the bite down in the other tribs. Interesting.

[ronaultmtd]

That's why it is called fishing instead of catching...when you explore new waters using different techniques, baits, different times, tides, etc., you are preparing a database of knowledge that will serve you well in future trips-

I have never fished from a kayak this time of year before, so every outing is new to me- I have fished from boats, but for specific winter wreck species...nice days in January shouldn't be wasted, so I am bringing my kayak out of winter storage and picking my days-

Pike or bass or any other species are never "always biting," they have good days and not so good- moon phase, tide phase, sunlight, temps, rain, barometric pressure and a touch of vodoo thrown in...all the variables, seem to affect fishing. The presentation of lures, baits, water depths, so many things that can make or break a fishing trip-

I am scaling down to ultra light spinning tackle (4 lb test) to try the different techniques of using smaller lures, slowing down the presentation, I am thinking that the fish are eating smaller meals and the bait fish hiding in the grass and weeds are small minnows and aquatic bugs...shallow water warms faster than deeper waters in the afternoon sun so I will be target fishing skinny waters- warmer the water the more active the fish...I plan to try 3/16 oz spinner baits with a colorado blade (for more vibration than a williow blade) and slow roll it over the tops of the weeds- if bass or snakeheads or white perch are there that should trigger a strike- I'll let you know how this works out- and don't forget to buy your new 2012 fishing license-

[DOGFISH]

I don't know how easy it is to get to from other areas, but have you tried to fish the pond near Sherwood Forrest. It has a very small entrance, which you can only enter by canoe or kayak. I used to fish it with a friend, for white perch. We would always be catching pickerel in that pond. It may be too far from other areas to get to by kayak. However, it is an excellent little pickerel hole. My friend lived in Sherwood. So we would launch right from the entrance to the pond.


PS: Its called Brewer Pond. There is also another promising looking place called Martins Pond, which should be within paddle range of a launch site. Look at NOAA map 12282.

[Aesiegel]

Brewer Pond definitely looks fishy. Its a long paddle from the put-in. And Martins looks good too.

[DOGFISH]

There are also pickerel in Spa Creek. You can launch right from Truxton Park, at the boat ramps. From the ramps you go to the left, around the point at Truxton Park. As you round the point, there is a small creek that goes back quite a ways. There is a wooden bridge at the back end of the creek. We used to catch pickerel from the shore in that area, while just walking and casting from shore. There is alot for them to eat back in those small creeks, lots of mud minnows. It has been years since I used to do that sort of thing. I used to train my labradors in the same area. I have seen kids catch pickerel right from the pier at Truxton Park. You can also follow the main branch of the creek to other smaller branches, back to the head of the main creek. There is alot of fresh water that enters the creek from those areas.

Just a suggestion, as you guys seem to be on a pickerel hunt. All of the docks in the creek are good white perch fishing in the summer. Towards the mouth of the creek, the Naval Academy seawall is a good place for stripers, along the rocks, as well as the docks at the mouth of the creek. At Truxton, you launch right into pickerel water, similar to Weems.

[J.A. Veil]

There are also pickerel in Spa Creek. You can launch right from Truxton Park, at the boat ramps. From the ramps you go to the left, around the point at Truxton Park. As you round the point, there is a small creek that goes back quite a ways. There is a wooden bridge at the back end of the creek. We used to catch pickerel from the shore in that area, while just walking and casting from shore. There is alot for them to eat back in those small creeks, lots of mud minnows. It has been years since I used to do that sort of thing. I used to train my labradors in the same area. I have seen kids catch pickerel right from the pier at Truxton Park. You can also follow the main branch of the creek to other smaller branches, back to the head of the main creek. There is alot of fresh water that enters the creek from those areas.

Just a suggestion, as you guys seem to be on a pickerel hunt. All of the docks in the creek are good white perch fishing in the summer. Towards the mouth of the creek, the Naval Academy seawall is a good place for stripers, along the rocks, as well as the docks at the mouth of the creek. At Truxton, you launch right into pickerel water, similar to Weems.

Thanks for the tips. I fished for pickerel many years ago in upper Spa Creek -- just where you said. For no particular reason, I just never made it back there in recent years. It sounds like another destination to try later this winter.